After three nights in Tulum and some of the tastiest food we’ve ever had, it was always going to be a struggle to match it. Isla Mujeres did an alright job, with only one dinner forcing me into a second dinner along the road. Because the island is so quiet in the evening, the beach shuts up and everyone from the north of the Island heads to Miguel Hidalgo to eat in the evening (just a heads up if you’re looking for beachside dining).
Here’s where you should eat and drink while in Isla Mujeres.
Rubens
As usual, we arrived starving on the island and headed around the corner from the hotel to Rubens, for down and dirty Mexican. That makes it sound bad, but it wasn’t, it was great. So great we totally over-ordered and went into a food coma for the next 12 hours. When the nachos say ‘Appetiser’, don’t believe it. We also had the Fajita and a great big fat Chimichanga between us. Stuffed.
18, Av Vicente Guerrero, Sm 1 centro, Centro, 77400 Isla Mujeres
Green Demon
The first and only beach club we visited, as it’s the beach club that our hotel Paradise Suites aligns with. We rocked up to Playa Norte with our towels, found a free sun lounger and proceeded to order a frozen Margarita for me, and a beer for Mike. Their daiquiri as it turns out was also pretty stunning if you’re interested.
On the beach, to the right of Carlos Lazo
Tres Mentiras
Hands down the best place that we found. So good we broke all our rules and went back twice. The decor was funky, non traditional, but Mexican, and the food was off the hook.
The first night we were recovering from our food coma (see above) and ordered light, just Guacamole and a Chicken Quesadilla to share, along with some drinks of course. I’ve never had a quesadilla with so much chicken and it was good.
After a half fail the second night, we headed back for ‘second dinner’ for their ‘beer and 3 tacos’ for 80MEX special. The fish tacos were something special and went down a treat with a side of tequila. Don’t leave the island without eating here. Promise me.
Miguel Hidalgo 13, Centro-Supmza. 001, 77400 Isla Mujeres
Breakfast
Because the island is pretty quiet first thing, finding a decent spot for a Mexican (non-American) breakfast proved a little tricky. Both places that we ended up at did pretty well and both on Miguel Hidalgo.
Lola Valentina, which was mental busy the night before was quiet and served up a good coffee and breakfast burrito for Mike and scrambled eggs for me.
A more traditional location for us on the second morning was Los Amigos. Like Lola Valentina, we were made to feel at home and very welcome. Mike had glorified cheese on toast (Mexican style) and I had a pretty tasty omelette. Cheap so cheap.
If you’ve eaten all the food you can, do some snorkelling, or sight-seeing. Check out the ‘what-to-do’s’ here.